Poll: Ted Cruz leads 2016 GOP primary

Sen. Ted Cruz’s controversial long speech on the Senate floor this week might be working for him: A new poll shows him pulling to the front of the pack for the potential 2016 GOP presidential nomination.

Cruz (R-Texas) led all possible Republican candidates in left-leaning Public Policy Polling’s survey, taken after his 21-hour speech ended on Tuesday. His 20 percent support was 8 points higher than a similar survey done by PPP in July, and he was the only candidate to gain more than 1 point between the two polls.

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Fellow tea party favorite Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) was in second in the poll, with 17 percent, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie came in third at 14 percent. Both gained 1 point since July.

Rounding out the top, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush came in at 11 percent and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) both got 10 percent.

The national poll of Republican primary voters found more good news for Cruz: Voters trusted him over Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell 49 percent to 13 percent, over House Speaker John Boehner 51 percent to 20 percent, and over Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) 52 percent to 31 percent.

Republicans also supported his efforts to defund Obamacare through the government funding bill, as 64 percent of those surveyed supported shutting down the government if the president’s health law isn’t defunded. Only 20 percent opposed doing so.

PPP surveyed 743 Republican primary voters from Sept. 25 to 26 for the poll, which has an error margin of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.